School: Gourock Primary, Inverclyde, pupil roll 310, classes involved P6-7, headteacher Joan McGill.

What was the best arts company to visit your school in the past year? Scottish Opera for All, without a doubt. We’ve had them before and we’ll be having them again.

How did you hear about them? I’ve known about them for ages and have always been keen on their work.

What did they do? Last time, they did The Jacobites. They sent the music to the school in advance and the class teachers split it up and worked on it with the children (about 100). Then a couple of people from Scottish Opera came up to do a workshop with the children prior to putting on a performance at a later date for pupils and parents. Scottish Opera provided the instrumentalists, the costumes, everything.

Did you do any preparation? Yes - the teachers’ work on the music and the workshop itself.

Any follow-up work? Yes. On a previous visit, they did The Egyptians for us and we related that to class topics the children were doing. The Jacobites fitted in with the environmental studies they were working on.

What did the visit cost? pound;500.

Who paid? Partly parental contributions and partly our activities grant.

What was so good about the visit? Everything. The children loved every minute of it. The performers are just so professional and it makes such a change for the children to see live performances and be involved in them. They loved the costumes and the music: Scottish Opera just brought everything to life. We’re having them back again this year to do The Music of Life.

How relevant was it to the curriculum? It related to class topics we were working on and, obviously, to expressive arts.

Contact Scottish Opera for All, 0141 332 9559